When a Walker Bites
by RattyCharlie
Summary: Only three people know how to rid the world of the shambling, rotting corpses: one of them is a strong, military-based leader, another is a girl barely out of her teenager years, and the other is buried five-feet under the ground. When Rebecca stumbles upon the group of veteran survivors, she has to decide whether to reveal her secret or not - will they help her, or betray her?
1. One Foot in Front of the Other

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The Walking Dead. I am open to constructive feedback and comments so please don't hesitate to send me your thoughts. I hope you enjoy the first chapter.**

 **AN: This story is set around the time when Alexandria is introduced. The only major changes I've made is obviously the input of my own OC and I've not included Eugene and Rosita. Instead of Abraham finding Eugene, and eventually crossing paths with Rosita, he found Rebecca (my OC).**

 **One Foot in Front of the Other**

It felt like we'd been walking for years. With each step, my knees trembled slightly and my legs begged for rest. How much further would I get until I dropped to the floor in exhaustion? Before all of this, before the dead rose with a scary appetite and bad breath, I couldn't even run a mile. That soon changed. I learned quick that survival depended on your physical strength. The faster you run, the harder you push, the more likely you'll be standing on top in the end. But this, walking across the country for nearly three days straight, barely six hours of sleep under our belts, was taking its toll on my body.

My army boots were caked in mud and dirt and blood, and my jeans weren't in a much better condition. The straps of my rucksack dug in hard at my slightly sun-burnt skin of my shoulders and for the hundredth time today I tried to readjust them. My hands were filthy but that didn't stop me from pushing my dark hair out of my face, smearing whatever it was that was on my hands onto my forehead in the process. I couldn't remember the last time I had my hair cut, but it definitely needed one now. Although I was in no way a 'typical' girl - the type to care about my hair style or the state of my nails - I would jump at the sight of a shower and some shampoo right now. Hell, show me a river and I'm diving in.

Up ahead, marching - he was always marching - was Abraham. His bright red hair stood out vibrantly from the green leaves and dark oaks of the trees, and in his thick arms rested a machine gun that he held confidently. I could see the way his muscles tensed in the sunlight as he readjusted his grip on his trusted weapon. He must have felt the weight of my gaze on his back, as he stopped in his tracks and looked back at me. Waiting for me to catch up.

As I closed the short distance between us, I hoped he'd see the fatigue in my eyes and suggest we start finding somewhere to camp for the night. But as soon as I came to his heels, he turned on the spot and continued marching again. A pathetic groan rumbled in my throat as I trudged after him. _Would it hurt, when I fall over_ , I mused, _or would my body be so thankful for being able to lie down that it'd feel like bliss?_

We kept walking along the pathways we found: a long, straight road, a guessed shortcut through a field, a sheltered path through the woods. So long as we followed the sun, we were going in the right direction. And soon enough, the sun began to sink beneath the tree line, the orange rays barely fighting its way through the dense forest. The sweat on the back of my neck suddenly turned chilled as the breeze picked up, making the leaves on the floor rustle against the dirt. The noise almost masked the sound of a twig snapping behind me. Almost.

I turned on my heel, my body commanding energy somehow to whip my dagger out from its holster on my hip. A walker stumbled out from the shadows of the trees and onto the path, its arms outstretched and its jaw hanging open. I raised my dagger and stepped forward to meet the walker, my hand curling around its neck to direct the snapping teeth away from my face. Instinct kicked in and my hand brought the dagger down in one fluid motion, the knife penetrating the bone easily. Dark blood splattered onto my collarbone and ear.

The walker went limp in my grip and once I pulled my dagger free I let the corpse hit the floor. But as soon as I went to take a step back, my sudden surge of energy evaporated and I found myself falling backwards. Before I could stop myself or even cry out, I landed heavily on the seat of my jeans with a very unladylike grunt. _Well,_ I thought, _it does hurt to fall down when exhausted._

Abraham had his hand curled around my elbow within seconds. He hauled me to my feet easily and proceeded to check me over. Just like he did whenever I came away from an encounter with a walker. Satisfied I wasn't bitten or scratched, he released my elbow and quickly took in our surroundings.

"We'll stop here," he said, his voice channelling power and control. There was no arguing with Abraham. He headed in the opposite direction to which the walker emerged, ducking beneath the low branches of the trees as he made his way deeper into the forest. I was filled with relief when I realised he was trying to find us cover - somewhere we can sleep for the night. If I wasn't so tired, I would have grinned.

Later that night, with the moon partially hidden behind the clouds, I tightened the rope around my waist and shuffled down a little on my branch to get comfortable. When I was fifteen years old, I went on a school trip to an adventure camp. It had been there where I learnt how to correctly tie myself up in a tree so I could sleep without falling out. I'd also learnt how to fillet a fish, how to tell which forest fruits were poisonous, and how to make a water filter out of a plastic bottle. My parents nearly sent me to the science camp, but now I'm thankful they allowed me to keep my original choice and go to the adventure camp.

Abraham was tied to the tree just next to mine. I could see the faint outline of his jaw and nose as he took a puff on his cigar. The first time we'd done this, we had tied ourselves in the same tree, shoulder to shoulder. But in the morning, we'd woke up with his arm around me and my head on his chest. It'd been awkward between us for the better half of a week. Since then, we slept in separate trees.

He took a long drag on his cigar. "It won't be long now," he said, quiet enough so any walkers lingering below wouldn't catch his words, but just loud enough for the wind to bring them to my ears.

"You better hope so," I murmured, closing my eyes as my body began to accustom to the sturdy feeling of the bark against my back. "I'm starting to think you don't know what you're doing."

He snorted a little around his cigar and cast his gaze across at me; his piercing blue meeting my shadowed dark eyes. "Have some faith, will you?"

The burning embers of his smoke withered a little beneath the breeze that filtered through the treetops, and with a quick glance towards the ground, he flickered the butt away from where we could hear a shuffling walker down below. I checked my rope one last time, giving it a firm tug just to make sure. And then before I could even think about if we were getting closer to another camp - to another community - I was asleep.


	2. Haunted Memories

**Haunted Memories**

 _I was cutting down walkers as fast as I could, dancing around their lunges and snapping jaws. My body was on fire and sweat was dripping into my eyes. One of them got too close and my axe sunk into its forehead with a sickening crunch. I kicked it away and spun around to deal with the next one. With each passing second, I was falling behind. They were surrounding me and closing off my exit. There was a small gap in the walkers, straight ahead, and that was where Glenn was waiting. He had got the car working and was now balancing the clutch and accelerator to make sure it didn't cut out again._

" _Rebecca, move!" He shouted over the roar of the herd, their moans and groans nearly drowning his words. His baseball cap was pulled down low but I could see the desperation in his eyes. I made a sprint for the exit, taking down two more walkers as they fell into my path. He had the passenger door open for me, shouting encouragement. But then he saw another group of walkers making their way from the trees towards me. They were going to block my path._

 _It took me a few seconds to realise I wasn't going to make it. And by the time I reached the second group, ducking to avoid the clutches of a nearby walker, then jumping back up to slice its head open with the bloodied edge of my axe, Glenn realised it, too. He was yelling something at me but I couldn't hear him. I was starting to panic as I got surrounded once again. Glenn knew his choices: either leave the car and let it break down again to join me bare-fisted in the fight, or take off now whilst the car was still working._

 _I swung at a walker, causing half of its brains to spill out onto my boots, and then used the body to push at the few that were closing in on my back. By the time I turned and kicked at a walker in front of me, my axe swinging back round to meet the face of another rotten skull, I saw that Glenn had made his decision. With a look of distress and regret, he gave the car full throttle and pulled away, the tyres spinning against the road and leaving black marks. I saw the tears in his eyes, and the guilt on his face._

 _Half of me was stunned, whilst the other half of me knew that if he joined the fight without a weapon, he never would have made it. Perhaps he could have ran a few of them over with the car, but that would cause it to stall again and we'd both be stuck amongst a herd of walkers. I knew what he did was right. But that didn't make it hurt any less._

I suddenly jerked awake as my body experienced the sensation of falling. My legs automatically wrapped themselves around the branch I was sitting on and my hands flew out to grab at the trunk to steady myself. The rope around my waist must have loosened throughout the night, as it was now only half holding me up in the tree. Silently cursing myself, I began to untie the rope and gather it in my hands, ready to stuff back into my rucksack. My heart was hammering against my ribs – half from the nightmare I had just woken from, half because I had nearly fallen fifteen feet out of a damn tree.

Abraham was already sat up and waiting. "You were having that nightmare again," he said, speaking slowly and carefully. He had witnessed me suffer through that haunted memory perhaps half a dozen times before. Usually, he'd wake me up and reassure me that I was alright, that I was safe. On one occasion he had let me cry it out into his shoulder.

I glanced across at him, wincing slightly when I saw the sympathy in his eyes. He tried to hide it, but I could see it lingering amongst the blue depths. Pushing my hair back over my shoulder, I zipped up my rucksack and started to climb down. Roaming around the base of the tree was a female walker, her blonde hair stained red with blood and guts, her eyes hollowed and avoid of emotion – except hunger. Before I could get to it, Abraham jumped down the last few feet and strode over to the walker, plunging his blade into the back of its skull. Using the toe of his military boot, he rolled it away from the tree and then turned to offer me a hand down.

With my feet firmly on the ground, he clamped a hand to my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "You don't talk much about the day I found you, and I'm okay with that. But you need to know that it's not going to happen again. I won't ever leave you like he did." He waited until I nodded and then stepped back, bringing his machine gun up into his arms. "We're in this together."

I gave him a weak smile, one which – after a few heartbeats – he returned. And then he was setting off towards the sun again, following the path it made with its rays of sunlight.

We walked until early evening, mostly keeping to the main roads. It was easier to see the walkers coming for us. And it wasn't long after the sun was beginning to set that a small group emerged from the slight hill in the distance and Abraham told me to stay back whilst he unsheathed his trusted knife. If the group was any bigger I would have ignored his instruction and helped, but as it was only four or five – something Abraham was perfectly capable to handle – I did as I was told and watched his back.

Once all of the walkers had been dealt with, Abraham cleaned his knife on his khaki trousers and wiped off some of the blood that had splashed onto his face. He started to say something to me – something about one of the walkers – when I spotted something at the crest of the hill.

"Hey," I interrupted him, striding up to where he stood, squinting a little as I strained my eyes to try and make out the shape. "Do you see that?" I pointed to the top of the hill, looking back at Abraham as he stepped behind me, following the direction of my finger with his sharp eyes. It was far away, but I was just about able to catch the shape move slightly.

"Is that…?" Abraham started, but his words trailed off. I nodded, knowing exactly what he was going say.

He hitched his rucksack securely onto his back and then started to jog up the hill, making sure I was right behind him. The shape was moving now, crossing the road and heading north. From the bottom of the hill, where I had first spotted the shape, it was hard to make out if it was an adult or a child. But as we got closer, it became obvious it was a man. He was tall, perhaps a few inches shorter than Abraham, and looked physically fit enough to challenge him. Something that worried me a little.

But it didn't worry me as much as the wickedly dangerous crossbow he had strapped to his back.

The man disappeared into the trees on the side of the road, apparently oblivious that we were perhaps ten metres behind him. We wanted to approach the man before he got too far away but also had to ensure he didn't have any friends anywhere that could put a bullet in us. As soon as we were sure he was alone, Abraham motioned for me to stay behind him and we crossed the road, following the man's footsteps into the woods.

But as soon as we got past the first few trees, we lost sight of him. Abraham came to a sudden halt, bringing him arm out to ensure I didn't go any further. It was stupid of us to assume the man wasn't aware of our presence. He had known we were following him and was now probably watching us from the shadows somewhere. I waited nervously, my ears sensitive to any noise around me, not daring to move away from where Abraham's arm kept me in place.

"Put the machine gun down," a low voice said from behind me. I was itching to turn around but knew better than to make any sudden movements. Abraham's hand slowly reached down for mine, his large hand swallowing my wrist. He put his machine gun down at his feet and then, ever so slowly, turned us around, his hand guiding me backwards slightly so he was positioned in front of me.

The man with the crossbow had his sight trained on us. His dark hair was long and in his eyes a little, and his skin was tanned from the sun beating down on it all day. His voice held power in it but not in the same way as Abraham's did – Abraham's power came from authority; the archer's came from an underlying threat.

He watched us both for a few seconds, weighing us up. "Why were you following me?"

Abraham had his hands held up at chest height, palms facing forward. He kept his voice calm and level. "We're looking to join a community. Our old campsite got overrun and it's just us now. We hoped to approach you safely but didn't get the chance."

The eyes of the archer stayed on Abraham for a moment before flickering across to me, and as soon as his eyes laid upon me I felt a rush of heat across my cheeks. Here I stood, knife on the hip and walker guts on my boots, and yet I was embarrassed to have this man look at me. I wanted to chastise myself for acting like a teenager but I found I couldn't do a lot whilst his eyes were on me.

Eventually, he lowered his crossbow a fraction. With his calculating stare fixed back on Abraham – obviously assuming him as in charge, and rightly so – he asked, "How many walkers have you killed?"

If the question surprised Abraham, he didn't show it. "I've taken down my fair share." His tone was steely and fixed, like he knew what game the archer was playing and although he didn't like it, he went along with it.

"And how many people have you killed?"

This question made him bristle. My neck burned as I withheld the instinct to look up at him and see his reaction. _Is he going to lie?_ The next few seconds dragged out for what felt like days and the urge to blurt out the truth was like an itch I couldn't scratch.

Abraham took a silent breath. "One."

"Why?"

I couldn't help it – I shivered. Abraham turned his head to look at me and I sheepishly glanced up at him. His face was set in stone; his brow slightly furrowed, his lips in a neutral line as he considered his answer. The archer saw this and his gaze flashed in my direction but didn't meet my eyes. He could sense that this question was stirring something for both of us.

Abraham turned back to face the archer. "Because he deserved it."

 **AN: I hope the hint of Glenn wearing the baseball hat gave away the idea that Rebecca was with Glenn before he was part of the group we all know and love. I also changed Abraham's past slightly, as it's presumed he has killed more than one person (the flashback to when he was in a supermarket with his family suggested he killed those men) but I've made it this way in order to add a bit more tension.**


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